FSX CTD - ATC.DLL

[stweaver321 0]

Ever since I migrated to Win7 64-bit, I'm getting CTDs at various times during a flight in FSX. It could be 30 minutes into the flight or 10 hours. I've never seen it happen on the ground or in climb...only at cruise. This seems to happen on all of my payware add-on aircraft including the PMDG 747, MD11, and other popular sims. I decided to post my issue here as it seems PMDG forums are frequented by some very capable people. I've researched this issue, but there doesn't seem to be too much on this particular problem in FSX.I used FSX in Win XP for several years and never saw this problem.I just did a fresh OS and FSX install and the problem remains.Here's my setup:Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bitIntel Core i7 875K, 2.93GHz (OC 3.35GHz)Gibabyte P55M-UD2 Mobo8GB DDR330GB 2.5" SATA MLC-SSD (Main Boot Up Drive), 1TB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 7200RPM HDD (Non FSX programs and user data), 128GB Corsair SATA-II SSD (FSX)NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 1GB PCI-ExpressAsetek 120mm Liquid Cooling SystemRealtek PCI Fast Ethernet AdapterRealtek Onboard HiDef Audio2 x ASUS 24" Widescreen HD LCD Monitor DVICH Yoke, Pedals, Throttle Quadrant-I have FSX installed on a separate drive (SSD) (f:\flight sim)-UAC is completely disabled-My user has ownership of the entire FSX directory and subfolders-FSX is NOT started in compatibility mode-FSX.CFG tweaked by the awesome tool at http://www.venetubo.com/fsx.html by ******* 'Bojote' Altuve (Note that these CTDs were occurring before the tweaks also)Other Software:-Active Sky Evolution-FSPassengersX (CTDs occur both while in FSP flight and while not in FSP flight)-FSUIPC (registered)-UltimateTraffic 2-Ultimate Terrain X USA-Microsoft Sercurity Essentials Anti-virus-Windows 7 FirewallHere is the Event Log entry for the crash:Faulting application name: fsx.exe, version: 10.0.61472.0, time stamp: 0x475e17d3Faulting module name: atc.dll, version: 10.0.61472.0, time stamp: 0x475e180eException code: 0xc0000005Fault offset: 0x00028bb1Faulting process id: 0x76cFaulting application start time: 0x01cbb69b237bfb96Faulting application path: F:\Flight Sim\fsx.exeFaulting module path: F:\Flight Sim\atc.dllReport Id: 57bebc63-229c-11e0-b62b-74ea3aa3e30dI'm normally able to resolve problems myself with some research and trial and error, but I'm stumped on this one. I'd very much appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.Stacey

[bojote 20]

I'm normally able to resolve problems myself with some research and trial and error, but I'm stumped on this one. I'd very much appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.Stacey

Stacey,The 'faulting' module is the FSX ATC. There is 'something' that is conflicting with that module. To resolve your problem you'll need to look into 'disabling' features related to ATC and test. Go into the General FSX menu and disable all ATC options (or at least change some of them) also make sure you DONT use a 'saved' situation file, but start fresh.What surprises me is that even a fresh FSX install won't solve it.. Have you tried testing without overclocking?

[Tabs 2,790]

Make sure your OC is stable - does the crash happen without the OCing? If not, that's your culprit. Make sure you exclude the FSX folder from the real time scanner in MSSE too.

[stweaver321 0]

******* and Ryan,I appreciate both of your help very much. You both are real assets to the FS community.I've not had any other indications that the OC is not stable. Core temps are reasonably low even during heavy FSX loads. I've executed some stability tests and they pass. I did, however, turn down the OC a bit to around 3.2GHz. Also, prior to my most recent CTD, I had disabled the ATC options in the General Options menu and also turned Voice volume all the way down. In addition, I've attempted to tune Com1/2 to an unused freq...122.95.One thing to note is that on this most recent CTD, I believe I had the Windows focus on my Firefox browser rather than on FSX. I fly in windowed mode and always have a web browser running.Last night/early this morning I started a 12hr flight from HECA to KJFK. Currently, I've got a little over an hour to go and so far so good. This time, I killed Firefox shortly after takeoff and I've made it a point to keep FSX the focus. For much of this flight, I've had very little AI traffic. That will be changing soon as I approach the East Coast area in case that has something to do with it.The fail rate was probably slightly over 50%. I'll keep flying and trying different things to try and narrow it down. Here are some steps I have in mind to try. If/when I see another CTD, I'll make one change at a time and go flying. Feel free to comment:1. Completely disable OC2. Disable AI traffic3. Fly in full screen modeI'll immediately remove FSX from MSSE real-time scan. Good suggestion.Thanks again!Stacey

[stweaver321 0]

My flight concluded smoothly. Will update this thread after I have a few more flight completed.

[Tabs 2,790]

Ensure you've got this dll file in your FSX folder too - there's a problem with the version in the Win7 system folder when combined with FSX and it can cause crashes to happen after a while.http://dl.dropbox.co...omationCore.zip

[stweaver321 0]

Ensure you've got this dll file in your FSX folder too - there's a problem with the version in the Win7 system folder when combined with FSX and it can cause crashes to happen after a while.http://dl.dropbox.co...omationCore.zip

Ok, I did that. I noticed this fix during my research, but held off as I never saw a CTD related to this specific DLL. To your knowledge, could this fix address an ATC.DLL CTD?

[Tabs 2,790]

I don't believe so - the crashes resulting from that usually name UIAutomationCore.dll.

[stweaver321 0]

Well, I've flown 5 flights in duration of 2 to 9 hours since my last CTD without issue. Here's what I've done since the last CTD:1. OC turned down from 3.35GHz to 3.2GHz2. Antivirus real-time scans disabled for the FSX and Hi-Fi (ActiveSky) directories.3. Copied the Vista UIAutomationCore.dll to flight sim directory4. Do not leave FSX out of focus for long periods of timeThat's the only differences. Fortunately, It appears that I'm back in business. Thanks for the help.

[des182001 1]

******* and Ryan,I appreciate both of your help very much. You both are real assets to the FS community.I've not had any other indications that the OC is not stable. Core temps are reasonably low even during heavy FSX loads. I've executed some stability tests and they pass. I did, however, turn down the OC a bit to around 3.2GHz. Also, prior to my most recent CTD, I had disabled the ATC options in the General Options menu and also turned Voice volume all the way down. In addition, I've attempted to tune Com1/2 to an unused freq...122.95.

The OC probably is the culprit I just went through something similar with my I7. I had a stable OC of 4.1 GHz according to the stress tests I was running, but I would have random FSX crashes with different modules being the cause. I had some room still temperature wise so I just increased my core voltage a little more. A good stress test is using the Queen from EGLL to KEWR, before I raised my voltage I would crash FSX on approach about 90% of the time.

[Kiwi75 0]

Well, I've flown 5 flights in duration of 2 to 9 hours since my last CTD without issue. Here's what I've done since the last CTD:1. OC turned down from 3.35GHz to 3.2GHz2. Antivirus real-time scans disabled for the FSX and Hi-Fi (ActiveSky) directories.3. Copied the Vista UIAutomationCore.dll to flight sim directory4. Do not leave FSX out of focus for long periods of timeThat's the only differences. Fortunately, It appears that I'm back in business. Thanks for the help.

Hi Stacey,Could you please send an update with your situation? Still getting CTD's? Have you changed anything?We more or less seem to have a similar rig with win7-64 and the addons you mentioned, and I keep getting random CTD's because of atc.dll in long or short flights, so I;d appreciate any feedback.Thanks!

[stweaver321 0]

To the best of my knowledge, I have eliminated the ATC.DLL crashes by not having a web browser open during my flights and ensuring FSX is always in focus. The other day, I accidently left FSX out of focus and had the FSX crash (due to ATC.DLL) for the first time in a long time. Hope this helps.

[DeltaMD11 12]

i got these crashes and i could not fix it so i eventually built a new computer and it fixed it.

[Jude Bradley 659]

Firefox is getting more and more resource-heavy these days,esp with this hardware acceleration built-in.If you do insist on using FF, switch off the hardware accel, or better still use Chrome or Chromium browser instead.http://www.worldstar...e-acceleration/I've been using FF since version 1 and only recently removed it from all my machines at home.I really don't recommend using any other applications when using FSX.

Edited February 9, 2012 by Jude Bradley

[Sekstifire 10]

Chrome is really unpleasant tho. Hard to survive without FX imo